There is a well-known milestone toward which everyone, each within the limits of their own knowledge, would wish or try to strive. This debated moment is called "enlightenment." I, within the narrow circle of my relative certainty, believe I had my moment, in an ordinary bar on an ordinary evening.

I remember finding myself sitting at a table alone, as everyone else had been captivated by a rather somber fellow who was telling them things that made seemingly no sense at all. And, as we know, senseless commotion always catches us wide awake... madness always unearths a certain interest... and indeed those others, whom I could have defined as exceptionally attentive knowing them, leaned their faces toward him, surrounding him with lustful and dimly lit gazes as if they had never seen a drunk introvert. In itself, the scene was quite typical for that bar. Drunks passed through often and always left carrying with them the smile and bewilderment of someone who had come in peace to oust their demons within the family—among comrades, let's say. But when he, the somber man, began talking about the well-known politician and businessman Mr. Berlusconi (who at the time enjoyed considerable fame), between one statement and another, his head swaying all the while, he finally burst out dramatically with the following outburst: "...but then what? What is Berlusconi? Berlusconi is just a man!"

That was my moment. That 'just a fucking man' had shot an arrow straight into me. I felt as though I'd thrown open a window and only then began to see through the world. I felt like my eyes had only just opened after a long sleep. Even today, I remember that moment so fucking clearly that I can honestly admit—with the full weight of that feeling—that from that day on, I became me, thanks to a drunk-ass fisherman.